13 Stories Where Karma Played Judge and Won

Sometimes life writes its own poetic justice — no scripts, no warnings, just pure karma in motion. It may take time, but when balance finally returns, it’s impossible not to smile. These 13 stories show exactly how satisfying that moment can be.

1.

I saw a woman at the grocery store, completely focused on her phone while carrying a basket in the crook of her arm. She was about to walk straight into the end of an aisle, so I spoke up and said, “Ooh! Watch out!” I kind of muttered, “These phones are going to be the end of us.”

She snapped at me to mind my own business. OK. No problem.

I turned the corner just in time to see her walk right into one of the support beams. It knocked her off her feet, the basket went flying, and the egg carton popped open, with a few eggs getting cracked, too. I walked by as she was still on the floor, looked her in the eye, and just smiled. That’s when I noticed her phone had slid halfway down the aisle — screen shattered. © abbys_alibi / Reddit

2.

Driving home from college across the state. A guy in his 30s or 40s was tailgating me so closely in the passing lane, waving his arms and obviously shouting profanities at me. I was passing a line of trucks as quickly as I could, but I didn’t want to risk crashing or getting pulled over for speeding.

When I finally had space to move out of the passing lane, the guy sped ahead, pausing next to me just long enough to yell again and make a rude gesture. He then raced ahead and disappeared from my view. A few minutes later, I saw him again — pulled over by a cop, likely for speeding. © minniemousewithfangs / Reddit

3.

When my mom’s friend was 19, she crashed her car into an old man’s new car and blamed him. The man said, “I’ll pay for this, but you’re a liar, and you’ll pay for it, one day, with interest. Remember me when that day arrives.”

40 years later, she was in a supermarket, and some kid did the same thing to her. He said that she was a blind old lady, and that she must pay for his damages, and hers.

She looked at her new Mercedes, with less than 500 kilometers, took a deep breath and told him that he was a liar, and that one day, he’d pay for this mistake, with interest, and he’d recall this day, and her, and regret for being such a bad person. She was laughing when she told me. © Cynthia Ortiz / Quora

4.

I used to be a zookeeper. A woman was making fun of our llama for looking ugly. The llama was a rescue who had corrective jaw surgery.

The woman pointed and laughed at our llama. The llama spat in her mouth. I gave the llama a treat and told her that she was a good girl. © MyNameIsNotRyn / Reddit

5.

My wife was jogging, and a man starts driving slow and cat calling her. Doesn’t realize it’s a red light and rear-ends a truck, totally destroying his Prius.

A cop was stopped at the same red light and saw the whole situation. The cop laughed and asked my wife to fill out a witness statement. © danpisha / Reddit

6.

Working the window at McDonald’s late night. A guy orders whatever and pulls up to the window. I’m cooking and handling the window, so I wasn’t there when the customer pulled up. When I walked up to the window, I didn’t see him with trash in his lap.

I open the window to take his card/cash, and he throws a bag of trash at me. I take a step back, bothered that I just got trash thrown at me, and I watch his car speed off. I’m pissed, but there’s nothing I can do.

A couple seconds later, I hear a small bang of metal on metal. I walk to the lobby and look out the windows. The guy slammed into a police cruiser who was about to loop around and use the drive through himself. Of course, I also went to tell the officer what just happened inside. © RedditWhileWorking23 / Reddit

7.

My dad was driving back from the shore when traffic got really bad. About a mile ahead, there was an accident that had brought traffic to a crawl. My dad decides to be patient about it. Others weren’t so patient. People began driving on the shoulder in order to get ahead of the traffic.

This pisses my dad off. We all know how this goes. We do the right thing and are punished for it, whereas these people are skipping in front traffic and will probably get away with it. He thought about following this stream of cars onto the shoulder, but he decided he’d do the right thing and wait.

As he got closer he saw two cops in a parking lot. One cop was directing all of the shoulder drivers into the parking lot, while the other wrote all of those drivers tickets. He describes it as one of the most satisfying things he’s ever seen. © DrDudeManJones / Reddit

8.

My wife and her dad were out for dinner. FIL offers to pay but refuses to let her take leftovers. I tell him to leave her alone.

He says, “You pay then,” and storms out. I ask for the bill. The waiter says we have to wait for the manager.

Turns out they have a contest running where “every bill is a winner”. Normally, you’ll win a free drink, or appetizer with your next meal. We won the grand prize — a trip for 4 to Florida. Whoever pays gets the prize. © Unknown author / Reddit

9.

I was at a touristy place at the top of a big cliff. People were hanging around at the top, just enjoying the view, and this one guy was eating a sandwich while staring at his phone.

After he was done, he couldn’t be bothered to find a trash can so he went to throw the sandwich wrappings off the cliff, but he hurled his phone off the cliff instead. © Piano9717 / Reddit

10.

An old lady with a walker shoved my toddler out of the way to get on a tram, then scolded her for being in the way. Two seconds later her walker got jammed between the tram and the pavement, she panicked and shouted for help.

I helped her out, but with a loud commentary to toddler about that’s why we don’t push in front of people. © KedgereeEnjoyer / Reddit

11.

A woman yelled at me about the amount of her bill, calling me every bad word in the English language. She claimed we had overbilled her and requested that I check her order. Come to find out we underbilled her by a $ 1000 dollars due to a misplaced zero. The silence on the other line was so beautiful. © Unknown author / Reddit

12.

When a rude customer’s card got declined, it always brought a genuine smile to my face. © Mattxy8 / Reddit

13.

I’d just reminded my team — again — to double-check attachments before sending anything to clients. Ten minutes later, I sent the “final” presentation and went to grab some coffee. Soon after, the client replied: “Great deck! Also, loved the slide with ’Buy cat litter, onions, and birthday candles.’”

I opened the file and there it was: my grocery list pasted over one of the slides. I laughed, owned up to it, and spent lunch triple-checking every file. Instant karma, lesson learned.

Karma has a way of showing up when we least expect it — especially when someone crosses a line. In this emotional story, what started as a grandmother’s pure excitement quickly turned into public humiliation. Yet fate had its own plans, and it didn’t keep her waiting.